Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCLXXVI | Page 6

me the
delight he took in studying fortification; adding, that he had sometimes
regretted having abandoned that line of life, for that he fancied he
should have been successful in it. His father would have procured him
an appointment in conformity with his wishes, had not his views
concerning him been changed by his friend, the Right Honourable Sir
George Fitzgerald Hill, then Vice-treasurer of Ireland, who gave his
son an appointment in the Vice-treasurer's office at Dublin Castle. Sir
George quickly detected the superior talents and acquirements of young
Smith, and became much attached to him; evincing peculiar satisfaction
in conversing with him, and listening to his quaint, exact, pithy answers
to questions proposed to him. About this time he was smitten with the
love of Lord Byron's poetry, which he devoured with avidity, and his
own love of verse-writing revived. He became, indeed, very anxious to
excel in poetry. He was soon tired of his official duties, and resigned
his situation in favour of his brother, who at this moment fills a
responsible office in the same department in Dublin Castle.
In the year 1826, being then in his seventeenth year, Mr. Smith entered

Trinity College, Dublin, where his whole career was, as might have
been expected, one of easy triumph. He constantly carried off the
highest classical premiums, and occasionally those in science, as well
as--whenever he tried--for composition. In 1829, he gained a
scholarship, and in the ensuing year obtained the highest honours in the
power of Trinity College to bestow, namely, the gold medal for classics.
He thought so little, however, of distinctions gained so easily, that he
either forgot, or at all events neglected, even to apply for his gold
medal till several years afterwards; when, happening to be in Dublin,
and conversation turning upon the prize which he had obtained, he said,
in a modest, casual kind of way, to a friend, "By the way, I never went
after the medal; but I think, as I'm here, I'll go and see about it." This he
did, and the medal was of course immediately delivered to its
phlegmatic oblivious winner! He was a great favourite at college, for he
bore his honours with perfect meekness and modesty, was very kind
and obliging to all desiring his assistance, and displayed, on all
occasions, that truthful simplicity and straightforwardness of character,
which, as we have already seen, he had borne from his birth. He was
much beloved, in short, by all his friends and relations; and one of the
latter, his uncle, Mr. Connor, an Irish Master in Chancery, confidently
predicted that "John William would live to be an honour to his
profession and friends." In 1829, he joined his family, who were settled
in Versailles, and spent some time there. In the ensuing year, his father,
who possessed a first-rate capacity for business, was appointed
Vice-treasurer and Paymaster-general of the forces in Ireland, and was
obliged to reside in Dublin, whither he accordingly soon afterwards
repaired with his family. His son, John William, however, remained in
London, having determined upon forthwith commencing his studies for
the English bar: a step which his father and he had for some time before
contemplated; as it appears, from the records of the Inner Temple, that
he was entered as student for the bar on the 20th June, 1827, which was
during his second year at Trinity College. The facility with which he
not only got through the requisite studies, but obtained every honour
for which he thought proper to compete, allowed of his devoting much
of his attention at that time to the acquisition of legal knowledge. He
procured a copy, therefore, of Blackstone; that, I believe, which had
appeared a year or two before, edited by the present (then Sergeant,)

Mr. Justice Coleridge,--the only edition of the Commentaries of which
he approved, and which he used to the last,--and read it through several
times with profound attention, as he has often told me; expressing
himself as having been charmed by the purity and beauty of
Blackstone's style, his remarkable power of explaining abstruse
subjects, and his perspicuous arrangement. The next book which he
read was, I believe, "Cruise's Digest of the Laws of England, respecting
Real Property," in seven volumes octavo, a standard work of great
merit; which, while at college, he read, I think, twice over, and
continued perfectly familiar with it for the rest of his life. He also read
carefully through nearly the whole of Coke upon Littleton, which he
told me he found very "troublesome," and that he had expended much
valuable time and attention on some of the most difficult portions,
which he very soon afterwards found to be utterly obsolete, particularly
mentioning those concerning "homage," "fealty," "knight-service,"
"wardship," &c. The above may seem